Jump to content

Black Country canals to transport more goods in new freight strategy


Alan de Enfield

Featured Posts

Black Country canals to transport more goods in new freight strategy | Express & Star (expressandstar.com)

 

 

 

Workmen load freight onto a canal boat

 

 

Transport chiefs say the use of canals to move greater quantities of goods must be "considered" if the region is to decarbonise freight and free up the roads.

Birmingham has 35 miles of canals – which is said to be more than Venice – but in the UK only around 13 per cent of goods are shipped by sea and inland waterways.

The plans are set to be revealed in a new freight strategy report by regional transport body, Midlands Connect.

The report suggests moving freight transport to "more sustainable modes" where practicable. It goes on to say: "Transport modes such as water freight and rail freight are more sustainable and emit less per tonne carried, particularly carbon dioxide.

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

44 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

 

Workmen load freight onto a canal boat

 Who am I to decry it, as someone who has spent most of his life (and with some degree of success) trying to do exactly that? But here we have 4 people plus a crane driver loading something that would be put onto a truck by one guy with a fork lift in a moment. Then, unless it is wanted canalside, it will be put onto a truck anyway for onward delivery.

If water transport can't be made to work on the large waterways, what chance is there on canals that only take 7' beam craft loading some 20-25 tonnes?

It could work locally in a city like Birmingham, but only if there were some 'political' decision making it advantageous in some manner - perhaps some sort of surcharge on road transport if the freight could equally be carried out by water.

 

Tam

  • Greenie 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

May be lateral thinking is needed there is traffic that can go by waterway, especially when it is not time critical. There are types of goods that could be stored in a canal boat hold until required.

 

There is also the movement of waste and rubbish to a recycling facility which could be more widely adopted

It would an interesting exercise to see if bringing of waste from domestic and industrial sources to a canal depot could be a commercial operation if that waste could be separated and broken down for resale.

 

May be even Tracy could sleep on this thought !

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We did some work on this idea together with our ex-partner Tim Wood, now of Wood Hall and Heward, designing special containers that could be craned in and out. However there is no longer the infrastructure in existance. In the London area there used to be the Vestry wharves that would have been ideal, but they have all long-since been developed for bijou housing or offices, and the cost of reinstatement would be prohibitive.

 

Tam

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Tam is right in that the small scale of the BCN waterways plus the locks would make it very difficult to make water transport economical even if the loading and unloading infrastructure existed. In big cities like London and Paris which are both on major rivers heavy low value products like aggregate and the removal of waste both domestic and construction make sense because of the tonnage that boats can move. When the canals were active 25 tons or 50 on a pair was more than other forms of transport (except)railways could move and a steady supply of coal from the midlands south kept the factories full but they had to carry stocks none of this just in time business then. As Ashby Canal Transport we tried very hard in the 70s and 80s to find regular work but without much success even the lock gates went by road.

whoever is behind this I wish them luck.

Edited by Dav and Pen
Spelling of course
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Midland Connect throw in some weasely words about canals in the Express & Star piece, but on their website their report is described as "This document summarises our three main priorities described within the Strategic Transport Plan. These are road, rail and technology and innovation, all of which can help support a more productive, prosperous and sustainable Midlands" - so no mention of canals there then.

 

Bulk freights like aggregates, coal, grain can be economic in certain circumstances - but it requires the supplier and/or end user to be waterside. As soon as double-handling becomes involved it's a no-no.

• Limejuice for Roses came into London Docks, went upstream to storage in Brenford Dock by tug and lighter, and was then fed 100 tons a week - the tonnage required by Roses and which conveniently could be carried in two trips by a pair of boats - to Boxmoor. OK until Cadbury/Schweppes moved their processing to St Albans!  😟

• Allied Mills used rail to move imported grain from Tilbury to their mill at Weybridge. We 'stole' the freight by proving it was more economical and reliable with two small motor barges, but then Thatcher gave subsidies for firms to move to Corby  😟

• Slightly larger waters, but we bought a couple of coastal barges and contracted to ARC Marine to carry sea-dredged aggregates - we moved substantial amounts of Essex up the Thames to depots in Fulham and Wandsworth or across the estuary to Whitstable. Sadly ARC lost the dredging contract and sand had to be brought in from elsewhere  😟

 

The only one of these freights using narrowboats was the limejuice, but that was historic and it is difficult to see anything like that starting from scratch today, especially in Birmingham with 7' locks and pleasure boats scattered about. There are these ad hoc trip boats that come and go, following major events like the Olympics and the Commonwealth Games, but none of them last long once the event comes to an end.

 

You then have to allow for droughts in summer and ice in winter, but I'd better stop there or I'll start crying into my keyboard.  😢

 

Hopefully my pessimism will be proved groundless

 

Tam

 

 

 

Edited by Tam & Di
  • Greenie 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Although there are still goods that aren't time critical, I imagine that the problem with moving freight by waterway in the modern world is likely that that the cost of labour would be too great.

 

A narrowboat can take a lot of cargo (thirty tonnes maybe?) and uses very little fuel, but it's slow...

 

I'd estimate that with locks and tickover past moored boats, I probably average about 1.5 mph.

 

If you had a crew of two at minimum wage, you're paying 19 pounds to carry 30 tonnes just 1.5 miles of travel, that's 19/1.5/30 = 42p per tonne per mile just for labour.

 

How much would the equivalent cost be for road haulage?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

17 hours ago, jupiter1124 said:

Although there are still goods that aren't time critical, I imagine that the problem with moving freight by waterway in the modern world is likely that that the cost of labour would be too great.

 

A narrowboat can take a lot of cargo (thirty tonnes maybe?) and uses very little fuel, but it's slow...

 

I'd estimate that with locks and tickover past moored boats, I probably average about 1.5 mph.

 

If you had a crew of two at minimum wage, you're paying 19 pounds to carry 30 tonnes just 1.5 miles of travel, that's 19/1.5/30 = 42p per tonne per mile just for labour.

 

How much would the equivalent cost be for road haulage?

A motor narrow boat uses the same amount of fuel as a lorry to carry the same tonnage, but only slightly more than half the amount of fuel if towing a butty (fuel usage measured between Birmingham and London carrying 42 tonnes some years ago) .  A single motor narrow boat would not have a crew of two! 

CBOA first made contact with MC (with CRT) when first established some years ago but we didn’t seem to ‘connect’ with them at the time, if you will pardon the pun. We made contact again more recently and this seems to have borne fruit.
 
Clearly the major potential is with the Severn from the Bristol Channel ports (up to a Port Worcester, long proposed by CBOA member/operator Graham Thompson), plus, to a lesser degree, from the Humber Ports up the Trent to an inland terminal in Nottingham.  Obviously a Wolverhampton paper will promote its local waterways.  There could be some potential on the BCN for ‘last mile’ deliveries and maybe waste although some years ago a BW initiative, led by the excellent Tom Chaplin, failed to make headway.  Historically, of course, trains of 40 tonne wide narrow boats could be pulled by a tug around the very long Wolverhampton level with a crew, I think, of only three.
 
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Both positive and negative opinions it would appear.

 

Yet the reference to the Severn is encouraging may be there is still potential for the increase in traffic there

 

As to waste collection, it must be rememembered that Tyseley Destructor is beside the canal (Grand Union) as is one in Wolverhampton (BCN). There is probably potential for moving "local" waste by waterway if this case is examined. It just takes somebody to start up traffic as experiment. Sometimes experiments last for long time !

 

On a  negative side as Mr Magpie Junior, might confirm consultant costs for such preparatory investigations can kill off a project. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

11 minutes ago, George and Dragon said:

I don't know where the Express & Star gets that number from...

Water accounts for a relatively small share of domestic goods moved across all modes (where road dominates) - around 13% of goods moved, and 6% of goods lifted, based on data for 2019 published in Transport Statistics Great Britain.

1 minute ago, fanshaft said:

Water accounts for a relatively small share of domestic goods moved across all modes (where road dominates) - around 13% of goods moved, and 6% of goods lifted, based on data for 2019 published in Transport Statistics Great Britain.

In terms of goods lifted, the River Thames handled around 20.9 million tonnes of freight, 50% of all total traffic on UK waterways, followed by the River Forth handling 6.5 million tonnes or 16% (Table PORT0704).

ttps://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/port-freight-annual-statistics-2020/domestic-waterborne-freight-statistics-2020

 

  • Greenie 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

21 minutes ago, Paul C said:

 

Its a bit confusing/meaningless without properly defining the basis. Also bear in mind, almost all freight will be multi-modal too.

What generally happens is that the goods are carried from origin (e.g. a port) to an inland terminal where they are stored and 'called off' as required by the customer.  This is much cheaper than storing in the port and is why railways and canals always built warehousing inland.   With containers the boxes are usually transhipped at the inland terminal (e.g. Freightliner in Leeds or Birmingham) for immediate final delivery to customer's premises.  Another option would be unloading (de-vanning) into storage at the terminal if that suited the customer better. Containers need to be kept moving although the number you see stacked up around the country makes you wonder about that!  (Maybe they are out of use).

Just now, fanshaft said:

What generally happens is that the goods are carried from origin (e.g. a port) to an inland terminal where they are stored and 'called off' as required by the customer.  This is much cheaper than storing in the port and is why railways and canals always built warehousing inland.   With containers the boxes are usually transhipped at the inland terminal (e.g. Freightliner in Leeds or Birmingham) for immediate final delivery to customer's premises.  Another option would be unloading (de-vanning) into storage at the terminal if that suited the customer better. Containers need to be kept moving although the number you see stacked up around the country makes you wonder about that!  (Maybe they are out of use).

Storing inland close to the customer(s) is obviously more convenient than having to send lorries long distances down to the port which might be congested.  That's why a 'virtual quarry' in Leeds on the canal side works.

  • Greenie 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 11/08/2022 at 11:30, Heartland said:

May be lateral thinking is needed there is traffic that can go by waterway, especially when it is not time critical. There are types of goods that could be stored in a canal boat hold until required.

 

There is also the movement of waste and rubbish to a recycling facility which could be more widely adopted

It would an interesting exercise to see if bringing of waste from domestic and industrial sources to a canal depot could be a commercial operation if that waste could be separated and broken down for resale.

 

May be even Tracy could sleep on this thought !

 

If one were mooring on the Regents or GU, each Monday (& some other days) one would see the wast from Camden Market (at Camden Lock) being shipped by barge to the Powerday wharf. No idea where it gos after that? 

Edited by oboat
Link to comment
Share on other sites

21 hours ago, fanshaft said:

What generally happens is that the goods are carried from origin (e.g. a port) to an inland terminal where they are stored and 'called off' as required by the customer.  This is much cheaper than storing in the port and is why railways and canals always built warehousing inland.   With containers the boxes are usually transhipped at the inland terminal (e.g. Freightliner in Leeds or Birmingham) for immediate final delivery to customer's premises.  Another option would be unloading (de-vanning) into storage at the terminal if that suited the customer better. Containers need to be kept moving although the number you see stacked up around the country makes you wonder about that!  (Maybe they are out of use).

Storing inland close to the customer(s) is obviously more convenient than having to send lorries long distances down to the port which might be congested.  That's why a 'virtual quarry' in Leeds on the canal side works.

I have heard that the freight to Leeds is or isn't going to restart! John Dean junior has Battlestone ready to go according to JohnV.

However when we moored at the Jolly Farmers moorings the man in charge of the fishing was congratulating himself on stopping it! When I told him it was probably back on he nearly had a fit, I pointed out it's a full commercial navigation and moving freight is far more important than fishing, he walked off 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have heard that the freight to Leeds is or isn't going to restart! John Dean junior has Battlestone ready to go according to JohnV.

However when we moored at the Jolly Farmers moorings the man in charge of the fishing was congratulating himself on stopping it! When I told him it was probably back on he nearly had a fit, I pointed out it's a full commercial navigation and moving freight is far more important than fishing, he walked off 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

 

Pity you did not have any tar and feathers with you !

 

  • Haha 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I really hope so even if it's just to pxxs off the that fisherman. 

To be honest I loved seeing the big gravellers when they used to trade before and seeing Pride every week reminds me that I am on a working waterway, just like it's supposed to be. 

  • Greenie 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.